She Goes Too
by TheyCallMeDanger
Summary: " She stays." Rick concluded, knowing that he couldn't leave here without her and let his conscious rest easy with that decision. Too many people had he seen die already. They had lost Jim already and Amy too. God, how could the numbers rack up so easy? He had to ask himself that every day.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: She Goes Too

" Say hello to the night, lost in the shadows. Say hello to the night, lost in the loneliness"

The whole city smelled of an overwhelming decay, rotted from the inside out. One by one, the small group crept through the seemingly baron city streets, with Rick heading them and Daryl tailing, his bow drawn. There was never any certainty when they were excavating for new supplies or something that could help them. They had almost made it to one of the buildings before the Walkers started emerging behind them.

They were thankful that the heavy doors weren't made of glass and seemed sturdy enough.

It was a sprawling library, books scattered everywhere as far as the eye could see. It had also looked rather ransacked as well, pages littered the floor and desks were tipped over as if someone had violently ransacked the place. The sound of the persistent storm still had yet to reside and the rain beat ceaselessly against the roof of the abandoned school. Daryl's crossbow were raised as he searched around the nooks and crannies of the library. So far, this looked like the safest place in a building infested with walkers.

Something caught his attention. Against the sound of the downpour, there was something else. Something closer, something that sounded like extremely labored breathing. He shushed the rest of the group with a death glare and one finger to his lips.

He followed the sound to a vent on the ground, just underneath a large mahogany desk. He gave the desk an admirable kick with his boot clad foot, sending it toppling over. He bent, bow positioned on his knees, to peer through the slanted vents. All he could see was a large set of blue-green eyes staring back at him.

" You alive or you a walker?" he grunted.

He watched as the eyes bounced from side to side in a "no."

" You aren't alive or you aren't a walker?"

More sporadic head shaking.

" Well, which is it?"

There was silence, those eyes just trained on him, unblocking. He was unable to tell if anything even registered in it.

" Well, c'mon out." Daryl drawled, making light work of getting the vent out-of-place so that the small figure could emerge. From what he could see, they were clutching their knees so tightly to their chest that there small hands were nearly white.

" Come on." He coaxed, reaching his hand out for them, the other fingering the an arrow. You could never be too cautious. Not in these times.

The person didn't accept his hand only stood on their own shaky accord. Daryl was slightly taken aback. When in the light he could tell that this was a young woman, older than what he had originally pegged her for. It was her face that gave her away, because despite being covered in a minuscule layer of dirt and grime, her face had a kind of maturity that one only required from age.

Her blouse was slightly torn at the bottom and her hair was matted and dirty as were the jeans she was wearing. Daryl did a twice over for her and put his hand against her forehead without hesitation. He was silently relieved that her head was as cold as ice, no sign of a fever.

" You been bit?" He questioned from the side of his mouth as he trailed her over for the third time now. Her only response was another head shake and a long, silent stare. Her eyes looked like that real crystal clear color you found on your mom's nice white China, and her eyes were about as big as one of them plates too.

" You have a name? Do you even talk?" Daryl kept questioning as he instructed that Lori come forward. She had more ease dealing with woman. Daryl did not.

As soon as Lori came close the girl dropped back to her knees and put her hands over her head as if the simple gesture might bring her protection.

" Whoa, whoa, whoa there little 'un." Daryl said raising an eyebrow and returning to the squatting position next to her violently shaking frame.

Lori looked bewildered as she stood at bay, trying to assess the situation. She had never had someone react so strongly to her before, especially someone that she didn't know.

" Lori is a friend of mine. Her husband led us here. We just want to take a look at you okay? That way we know that you're safe." Even though Daryl's voice was anything but smooth, he had a strange way of comforting people with his directness. Which was more than they could say about his degenerate brother Merle.

" Is she okay?" Rick asked, penetrating blue eyes stood out from a gaunt face, hair matted against his skull.

Daryl reached toward her and pulled the neckline of her shirt towards the center of her chest, exposing her collar bone and upper chest to his inspection. If the situation wasn't serious, he might have found the way that her eyes widened in alarm comical. He pulled her shirt to the side to check her shoulders.

" I'm only making sure you haven't gotten bitten by one of them things, you feel me?" He had a feeling that she didn't, her body stiffened in a way that made him feel uncomfortable just handling her like that. He did the same for her torso and legs, moving as quickly and thoroughly as he possibly could before coming confirming his earlier theory that she was clean. It never hurt to make damn sure.

Rick's line of focus reached his and Daryl gave him a quick lift of his chin so that they could have a word. Rick nodded and motioned him towards the other side of the library. Together, the two of them walked in silence, the sound of shoes scuffing the floors was the only noise between them.

" Talk to me Daryl."

" The girl hasn't been bit. Now, it's up to you what we do with her, if we do anything with her at all."

" I can't just leave her here. She's surrounded by walkers, she doesn't look like she hasn't had a thing to eat in God knows how long.."

Rick wasn't a young man by any means, but the things that he had gone through had carved a tiredness into his body that he couldn't have ever imagined experiencing in his wildest dreams...that was then. The only thing that had pulled him through was the thought that he would find his wife and his son. Then by the grace of God, there they were. He found them and his partner and they all were safe. He could not imagine what it felt like to be alone in this world like this girl obviously was, scared beyond words, and left alone with no one there with you.

" She stays." Rick concluded, knowing that he couldn't leave here without her and let his conscious rest easy with that decision. Too many people had he seen die already. They had lost Jim already and Amy too. God, how could the numbers rack up so easy? He had to ask himself that every day.

" You sure about that? What if she has some friends of hers waiting in the wings ready to ambush us and take our guns?" Daryl prodded, his suspicion well placed.

" It's a chance we'll have to take...but look at her Daryl. Unless she's a damn good actress, have you ever seen a woman look that traumatized unless something awful happened?"

Daryl had looked at her, more than what the rest had. He had seen that fright alive in her eyes, seen the marks on her skin as clear as day. You didn't get no marks like that from every day living. Healing bruises for days and marks that were evidently created by a rope burn addled her wrists. She didn't fit the profile for a fugitive...but that didn't mean she wasn't one. Though his instinct told him that wasn't her MO, that captive was more like.

" Alright, I'll keep any eye on her just to make sure she doesn't try anything. I reckon we can leave here tomorrow morning when we have some light."

Rick agreed and then headed off towards where Lori and Carl sat, a safe distance from the frightened mess that was still ducking on the floor as if a bomb was about to go off. Normally, he would have never taken all of his people with him to go for supplies, but they needed them so badly. His only condolence was that the libraries doors seemed strong and durable and that they would keep the walkers out.

There was one thing that he knew for sure though, the girl was going too.


	2. Chapter 2: Following Along

A/N- Thanks for the follows guys, I have to chapter 7 of this finished, now working on editing. This is my first Walking Dead story, so I hope it's up to par. Please let me know what you liked, hated, found interesting ect. Next chapters will start being bigger.

Chapter 2: Following along

Morning came much too soon as the tired group fought for a few more hours of precious sleep. Daryl had been awake most the night, or at least had slept a bit with one eye open. It was a little trick he picked up when he was a kid and living at home when Merle was away. Nothing like your old man sneaking up on you when you were sleeping, drunk out of his mind, to "give you yours" with whatever object he had handy. Sometimes it was his belt, sometimes it was other things much worse.

Daryl shoved the thoughts away as quickly as they had meandered into his head. He knew that his body should feel tired, "should" being the key word, from the corner of his eye he could see the abandoned little thing curled up with her knees tucked to her chest. She looked much smaller, more vulnerable. The way she was eyeing that vent made it seem like she was going to jump out of her skin and bolt for it like a scared dog.

Rick was the first one to approach her as the others were finally coming around. His tone was soft, like you might use with a wounded animal to calm it's nerves.

" What's your name? You wanna tell me what happened to you?"

She seemed to be staring right past Rick and onto something else. Rick tried again.

" We don't live too much farther away from here. We're going to take you away from here okay?"

This time, he was rewarded with a curt nod. It was enough. He nodded his head back in affirmation, appeased.

" C'mon, let's head back to camp and see if Shane is back from getting the ammo we need." Rick motioned towards the door.

They hadn't seen Shane since they had been cornered in the library. The school had been one of their favorite spots, it was well stocked and had been secured the last time they had been there three weeks prior. That could only mean that the herd was drawing near.

Three feet beside him, Daryl was having simultaneous thoughts. his finger toyed with the trigger on his bow as the image of hundreds of thousands of walkers was coming after them. It could happen. He put himself right behind the girl to make sure she wasn't up to anything as he opened the door.

" Thank God." Shane's whisper echoed down the hallway, a tote slung over his arm with a rifle sticking out of it. As he neared he saw the new addition.

" Who's she?"

" We were holed up with her in the library all night. We're taking her with us, we'll talk about this later." Rick told him, unsuccessfully trying to push it under the rug from what Daryl could tell. There were very, and he did mean very, few people at the camp he liked. Shane was not one of them, especially after Rick came back and took back the woman that was rightfully his.

Hell, Daryl doubted that Rick wanted to believe that his wife had been with his best friend and partner. There weren't many at camp that knew about it either. Daryl only knew because he had been following a bucks trail whenever it started to tangle with a fresh set of human ones, two to be exact. While he may have followed that trail to the end, he did not want to refollow those footsteps in his mind.

Rick was leading them back towards the road towards their vehicles, and the path there was mostly clear. Daryl took out a walker on the road and helped Dale put all the supplies in the RV where he was waiting in the wings with Carl,

When they got to camp, they unloaded everything. Shane gave Rick one of his looks and turned toward the girl.

" Who are you again?"

She only stared at her hands, causing him to raise his eyebrows at her.

" What are you huh? Some goddamn mute? Way to go Rick, bringing a goddamn mute into our camp!" his voice was filled with a pointed anger.

" She might be, but she can hear just fine so why don't you shut up?" Daryl interjected for no good reason other than Shane s senseless yelling was going to get them all killed.

The supposed mute wheeled around to face him, with eyes just as wide as when they found her and walked over to his side, and that was where she stayed for the rest of the week.

Whenever Daryl went hunting, along she came. He never had to tell her to be careful or quiet, she always was. Whenever Daryl went to clean up, she sat patiently at the side of the river, averting her eyes whenever he stripped off his clothes. Whenever he went to sleep at night, she had to be carried in at night as she passed out right outside his tent and carried back to the RV.

Daryl never had a moment alone, even when he needed to take a leak, she was not far off. It just got to be too much, he had never had so much attention in all his life.

" Can't you go do your laundry or somethin''" he grunted.

She pointed to a folded basket next to the RV.

" Carol's been wanting some company, why don't you go talk to her. You both are like little mice, maybe you'll get along." He snorted.

He was surprised whenever she pounded on his chest. One solid thud, her thin fingers curled into a fist. His eyebrows raised in a demand. Where did she get off on that?

She put her finger on her lips and all he heard was the sound of their breathing and the flutter of birds in the trees.

" What? I don't hear nothing."

He could read "that's the point" all over her face. He drew in a breath. He was no good at talking. Listening, to animals and his surroundings, yes. People? Not so much. Even worse whenever he was trying to figure out why this mute girl was following him around like a lost pup.

" Just give me some space, alright? Jesus, leave me alone bitch!" He barked at her and he'd be damned, but her eyes started to get misty. He would have taken the words back If he could, but he couldn't. It was too late, so he just turned on his heels not been bothering to look to see where she went.

Walking to the water, he saw Carol sitting there washing her laundry. Her body casting a distorted mirror image into the depth. She gave him a tired smile when she noticed him.

" I gotta talk about something." He began but she was quick to reply.

" The girl." She didn't seem surprised by the scowl he was wearing.

" Yeah, what do I do?"

Carol seemed only to contemplate as she dunked another shirt into the lake, scrubbing it.

" I think she's taken you on as her hero Daryl. Maybe she thinks you remind her of her brother, father, cousin, friend, or boyfriend. Have you tried asking her about it?"

" I don't even know her name, let alone something that complicated." Daryl remarked, rubbing his stubble in concentration.

Carol responded with a frown.

" It's not good for anyone to keep that bottled up. All of us have been trying to get to her. Carl keeps asking her to play games with him, Andrea has tried talking to her about anything, Lori has asked her to help out around the camp which she does only when you're sleeping..I saw her doing the dishes at midnight last night Daryl. T dog has been asking her to help him, Dale, and Glenn with RV. Rick has been constantly trying to get anything out of her, he even gave her a pen and paper to carry around in case she needed to write notes. Shame has nothing to do with her, but you know how that goes. For whatever reason, she chose you to connect with Daryl, you could give it a shot."

He knew Carol was being the voice of reason and that's what made his outburst that much worse.

" I guess, but how am I supposed to go about my way with someone always on my heels."

Carol could barely keep a straight face as she grinned, " Just pretend you're a mother with a child."

Daryl frowned, thinking about his own mother giving a breif narrow eyed frown at Carol s optimism. He knew he had to figure out how to make this right.

In the back of his mind Daryl realized that he should have gone after her, but he couldn't help but enjoy his time alone. He went out and caught a string of squirrels to take back to camp. Carol usually helped him clean them before they put them over the fire, maybe he could show the girl how to do it so she could help.

He popped into the RV and looked around. Her area was made up and It looked as if she hadn't been in there. He walked down to the river, and she wasn't there either.

" Yo Rick, you see the girl?"

Rick was showing Carl how to tend to the fire when he approached.

" No, I figured she'd be with you like usual."

Daryl asked around the camp and no one had seen her. Picking up his crossbow he ventured out into the woods.


	3. Chapter 3: Walker Bait

**A/N- Thanks for all the follows and the fav! It means a lot, sincerely! Also, I do not own The Walking Dead or any of it's character's but my own.**

Chapter 3: Walker Bait

Daryl didn't tell the others that he was leaving, he just slipped into the surrounding woods. To keep his mind at work, he prowled the area searching for a clue. She could have bolted through here hours ago.

He listened with a single-minded determination. He was going to bring this girl home, he hadn't been so lucky with Sophia and this was not about to be another situation like that. He had to make this right. When he couldn't find anything, he buckled down and headed back to the camp to double around to the other side of the water.

He wasn't sure how long he had been looking for a sign, but he was losing sunlight and that wasn't something that he could afford. He nearly growled in frustration until he came upon a set of tracks. They were definitely human judging by the even weight and pattern, walker tracks were more distinct than that. She had to have gone that way.

Following the tracks down through the thicket they started to fade. He cursed his luck, trying to pick up her trail. As they reappeared sporadically, he bent down to examine the ground. The soft mud from all the prior rain gave way to a nice print...one that mingled with a spot of blood and the dragging gait of a walker.

" Fuck." He breathed, hand searching for an arrow. That blood was fresh and there was no way of determining whether or not it was a walkers or the girls. He quickened his pace, determination coursed through his veins. He would find the girl, he was dead set on that.

Abruptly the human tracks stopped and only the walkers tracks continued. His mind was racing with possibilities. Had the walker picked her up and carried her off? He had never heard or saw it happen, but hell, he had seen weirder things he supposed.

From in front of him, the heavy sound of breathing alerted him of one of them sonsofbitches. Its smell hit him before its presence. Decaying flesh and moldy organs were hell on the senses, but Daryl was hardened against it. The thing looked worse than it smelled, it's jaw a mangled mess and the skin was falling off like a dog sheds hair...in epic proportion and all over the place. It was impossible to tell whether the thing had been a man or woman.

Part of him, the part that he wished would shut the fuck up, was wondering if this bastard had done her in. Putting an arrow in its head would be a pleasure then. Without hesitation, he landed an arrow right in its forehead and rushed over, planting a boot to its head, to pull out his deep rooted arrow.

As he was about to follow the marks off deeper into the forest, the darkness starting to surround him, something hit him in the back of the head. Spinning around, bow raised, there was no one there. Stooping down, he picked up a large walnut and glanced up. The whole forest was littered with walnut trees. He was getting way too damn paranoid, he thought to himself.

This time two walnuts hit him, one in the back of the shoulder and the other in the leg. There was no goddamn way those had fallen from the tree. A low whistle, almost so quiet he barely heard of it, came from the tree he had passed earlier. As he walked over to inspect, a slender foot poked out from the thick foliage.

" Well I'll be damned." He muttered as he recognized the old boots of Lori's. Reaching up, he plucked the mute out of the tree and placed her onto the ground. She held out her arms and flipped them over so he could see she had not been bitten.

" Thank God. Let's get back to the camp before we become walker bait."

The noise she made was like a strangled animal, gasping for breath. The contours of her body went rigid and seemed to lock up, dropping her to the ground. Daryl shook her, but It didn't do any good. She was out cold. He scooped her up and threw her over his shoulder, palming his knife with the other.

He was prepared to fight his way back to the camp, but luck was on their side that night. Whenever he stepped into camp, Andrea was there to greet them. Her hands were twitching towards the gun at her side.

" We thought maybe she had run. Is she..?"

Daryl couldn't quell the sound of disgust that came from his mouth.

" No, why don't you have someone make her up some food. She passed out."

Andrea nodded and headed back towards the small fire, Rick's questioning gaze reached his. Daryl only turned and headed for the water basin they kept near the edge of camp. Propping her up against the post, he took the cloth and dampened it, gingerly wiping off her forehead and face.

At least she was alive. He knew that her death would have been on his conscience. He hadn't meant to drive her away, only to get back some of his space and this is what had happened. While he had to admit it was the best outcome he could have asked for, her running off wasn't ideal.

Her eyelashes fluttered open and those intent eyes of hers were staring up at him.

" You alright?" His voice was softer now.

She nodded and sat up, he put a hand on her sleek shoulder. He knew that he could forcibly hold her down if he needed to, even Carl probably could, but he didn't want to. She touched his hand with hers causing him to draw his hand back. No one ever touched him hardly, especially all tenderly like that. He was a survivor. He was a loner. He was a fighter...not someone that needed any type of affection.

She didn't seem distressed about his pulling away, in fact she seemed too busy digging in her pockets. She pulled out a small flip book like you had to have in school for doing math, the kind that have the spirals at the top and flipped open. Finding a pen she quickly jotted something down before she handed it to him.

He had to squint to read it in the darkness.

" They used to call me walker bait."

His stomach turned in his gut and he felt he urge to throw up. Those rope marks around her wrists, that haunted look in her eyes, the shallow state of her frail little body. He shuddered and brought his eyes level with her.

" Who is 'they'?"

She fiddled with the small notebook, avoiding his gaze.

" Can you at least tell me your name?"

She only looked more and more perturbed so he continued on.

" C'mon, Everybody has a name. My name is Daryl, your name is...?"

The silence was aggravating, but he pushed it to the side.

" We can't keep callin' you 'you' or 'girl'. You have a name. What is it? Debbie?"

Her nose wrinkled, at least it was something.

" Darla? Regina? Ally? Casey? Janet? Anna?"

He smiled to himself, he had always thought the name Anna was a pretty one. One of his friends moms name was Anna. She had been a nice woman, with a big heart that always seemed to have an excuse for him to spend more time over at their house even though he was a delinquent little red neck to everybody else. When he looked up at her, she was smiling back.

" What you like that name too huh? So why don't you tell me what your name is, I'm sure it's much prettier." He tried coaxing.  
She wrote something down and handed him a slip of paper.

"Anna" it read.

" That's not your real name, but if that s what you want. It's better than girl or mute."

She nodded and they both grinned at each other.

" There's food over here for you." Andrea called as she got closer. Anna slipped him another piece of paper before heading off with Andrea. He unfolded it.

" Thank you." Was all it said, he folded it up and tucked it into his breast pocket before heading off with the rest of them to the fire.

Taking a seat and grabbing himself a portion, Anna moved to sit beside him. Shane eyed them both with a suspicious look in his eyes. As soon as he cleared his throat, Daryl put his plate beside him, knowing that Shane was going to say something that was liable to get him punched.

" Listen, I know you and the mute have this cute little thing going, but you guys don't need to be putting our whole camp in jeopardy by going off into the woods. You got me Dixon?"

Daryl stood up, meeting Shane inch for inch. He might not have the size that he did, but Daryl bet anything that he could take him.

" First of all, she has a name so I don't wanna hear you refer to her as mute again...or anything else but Anna. You feel me?"

All eyes traveled between Daryl and her. Anna nodded at them, her long hair tied up into a ponytail, bobbing with every affirmation.

" Second of all, why don't you worry about your own relationship before you worry about everyone elses."

From beside Rick, Lori shifted uncomfortably in her seat. Shane didn't say another word as he sat back down, but Daryl could still see the contempt for the both of them in his eyes.


End file.
